Revealed: Why It’s 28 Years Later and not 28 Months Later despite obvious pattern of titles

Over 20 years after 28 Days Later brought new life to the living dead, the trailer for 28 Years Later was released on Monday to an incredible reception and questions about where Cillian Murphy’s character is.

The trailer, which has already got 7.8 million views on YouTube, saw Aaron Taylor Johnson and Jodie Comer take up the leading roles two decades after Cillian Murphy made a name for himself as bicycle courier Jim in 28 Days Later. The 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later featured Jeremy Renner at the helm, so naturally many assumed the third instalment would be months later.

Turns out there’s a really good reason why that isn’t the case.

Writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle, the minds behind the original film, have not shied away from talking about the franchise over the last 20 years. They did not return for the sequel, and though it was not awful by any means, there was a noticeable difference in both its reception and Rotten Tomatoes score.

“Danny and [producer] Andrew and I have been having quite serious conversations about it so it is a possibility,” Alex said in a 2015 interview with IGN. “It’s complicated. There’s a whole bunch of reasons why it’s complicated, which are boring so I won’t go into, but there’s a possibility. It’s more likely to be 28 Months than 28 Years. 28 Years gives you one more place to go.”

Later in 2023, they threw some casual shade at the sequel while negating what they had previously said about preferring the idea of months over years.

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Alex told Inverse: “I resisted it for a long time because there were things about 28 Weeks that bugged me. I just thought, ‘F*ck that. I’d rather try to write a different story in a different world.’ But a few years ago an idea materialized in my head for what would be really 28 Years Later. Danny always liked the idea.”

Basically, choosing to go with years over months allows the project to distance itself from the story and themes of the less successful Weeks Later instalment. It also gives that zombie virus a chance to evolve and adapt, reviving the tired tropes the zombie genre has become synonymous with.

It seems like the wait has paid off too as a fourth instalment, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, is already in the works.

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Featured image credit: 20th Century Fox